Ottawa Senators GM Bryan Murray made a bold move last night, firing coach Craig Hartsburg. This marks the second time in as many seasons Murray has fired a coach before the end of February despite having hired the man during the previous off-season. Binghamton Senators head coach Cory Clouston will finish the season as the Sens' bench-boss.
I for one am somewhat confused by this move. Clouston represents the fourth coach the team has had since they went into their tailspin in December of 2007. I am not around the team every day, and thus my reservations are founded on speculative premises, but it seems like there is more to what plagues this hockey club than simply poor coaching. The team's on-ice personnel is simply inadequate. They are no longer an elite club talent-wise, they do not put in a respectable night's work on a consistent basis, and at times they seem unwilling to play for one another. The defence, the goaltending situation, and secondary scoring personnel are all issues that must be resolved before any coach will have success here. The system is wounded from the mistakes ordered up by John Muckler, and to a lesser extent Bryan Murray, and will not be healed in the immediate future.
That is not to say Hartsburg didn't have his faults. For someone who used the term "accountability" so frequently that it had begun to lose its meaning as a word, there is very little evidence, from the etic observer's perspective, that Hartsburg held his players responsible for their missteps in any meaningful way. Again, I realize I am not afforded the luxury of spending time around the team and I don't know what is said behind closed doors, but short of calling a few players out in the media, I don't really see any examples of the radically increased allotment of accountability Hartsburg preached for. Furthermore, there have been repeated rumblings that the players did not like the system Hartsburg had set up for them. Whether or not this is true, the team clearly wasn't buying in on too many a night, so maybe a change is for the best.
What is most surprising about today's news is not who was fired, but who was hired. You would think, having twice failed in reclamation projects, that Murray would have gone with an experienced NHL coach. Instead, Murray opted to hire from within, and chose a candidate with no NHL experience. To his credit, Cory Clouston has been a winner at every level. His five season with the Kelowna Rockets saw his team qualify for the post-season each year, won the Dunc McCallum Trophy as WHL Coach of the Year in 2005 and 2007, and walked away with the Brian Kilrea Trophy as CHL Coach of the Year in 2005. After a tough season in 2007-08, Clouston has the B-Sens back in a playoff spot as of today.
The man had some interesting things to say at his press conference, which I have posted below. A few of the things he said at his introductory press conference struck a chord with me. He mentioned that it was part of his philosophy to make coming to the rink fun, which, looking at the faces on the Sens' bench, might be just what this team needs. The former University of Alberta Golden Bear mentioned the need for the coaching staff to help give the players confidence and make them feel good about themselves. He also stated that while he would like the club to have a plan on the breakout and in the neutral zone, he would also like to see the team play with more firepower. This is a potentially precarious plan (alliteration unintended,) since the team's offensive arsenal is not what it once was. I like his philosophy at first glance, and it certainly seems like a change of pace from what Hartsburg brought to the table.
I am a supporter of Bryan Murray's, as the work he has done elsewhere as a GM has been excellent, but at some point one has to question how much longer he has to live in his current role. Both of the coaches he has hired have been, by his own admission, mistakenly tasked with a job for which they were later deemed unfit. Applying further egg to Murray's face is the fact that both John Paddock and Craig Harstburg had been unsuccessful NHL head coaches before stepping behind the home team's bench at Scotiabank Place. While I feel one needs to give a GM 3-4 years on the job before assessing their performance too critically, and I am not calling for Murray's head by any means, even the highest grade Teflon will eventually peel off a wiper blade. If Clouston doesn't turn things around (which I feel for the reasons listed above, odds are, he won't) do Eugene Melnyk and Roy Mlakar afford Murray the chance to hire another coach? Perhaps more pressingly - was Murray's decision to make this move motivated by his own lack of job security?
Going forward, BM the GM is going to have to give the world some kind of indication that he has a plan, and he will likely be judged by what he does this off-season and at the trade deadline. This team has a talented core, but needs to add a few prospects to their system, as well as moderately priced roster players who can fill immediate needs. If Murray can bring some of these types of assets for players who are not fitting into the vision this team has going forward, while using his cap space wisely this summer, this team could be back in the post-season in 2010. If he makes one bad trade and/or signing too many -given that he works for an owner that doesn't harbour much of a tolerance for losing - one would have to think his job security may be in jeopardy.
No comments:
Post a Comment